NCAA Men's Basketball Recap: UNC vs Duke

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Roy Williams grabbed the microphone and looked across the throng of blue-clad fans still milling around the Smith Center after North Carolina's latest conference championship.

"It's been a wonderful year," Williams said, "so far."

At this point, no one can blame the Hall of Fame coach for thinking big. Not after his 13th-ranked Tar Heels finished off No. 4 Duke 81-67 on Saturday night to win the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title and complete an unprecedented climb back atop the league.

Harrison Barnes scored 18 points for the Tar Heels (24-6, 14-2), who earned the top seed in next week's league tournament in Greensboro. Kendall Marshalladded 15 points and 11 assists as North Carolina avenged last month's loss at Duke in which the Tar Heels blew a 16-point lead in the first half.

Once again, the Tar Heels built a big lead in the first half, this time 14 points. But Barnes and the Tar Heels protected that margin and stayed in control the entire night.

It certainly eased more of the lingering pain from last year's 17-loss season, Williams' worst as a head coach. By beating the Blue Devils (27-4, 13-3), North Carolina became the first team in league history to win the ACC regular-season title outright a year after finishing below .500 in league play.

"The last 10 months haven't been very easy a lot of times, but that crowd in that locker room has been fantastic," Williams said. "As a coach, where you get your strength is your relationship with the players. As a coach, you get your strength from how they allow you to coach them. This group has just been phenomenal to work with."

When it was over, fans and students rushed the court to celebrate a surprisingly easy victory against the reigning national champions. In fact, Williams addressed the crowd for them to clear off and allow his players to celebrate with his own tradition -- clipping down the nets after clinching a league title at home.

"If nobody else believed, we did," sophomore John Henson said. "And that's why we're at this position."

This game certainly had a postseason vibe to it, from the nationally televised broadcast on CBS -- the first time the network had aired a regular-season game in prime time -- to the winner-take-all setting in the rivalry between elite programs that had won the past two NCAA titles and nine overall.

But the Blue Devils struggled to keep up all night.

In many ways, it was a replay of the first meeting for Duke. Nolan Smith and Seth Curry again completely carried the offense while Kyle Singler struggled to make much of anything while matching up most of the night against Barnes -- the heralded recruit who picked North Carolina over Duke and other schools to cap a highly publicized recruiting battle.

Smith had 30 points and Curry had 20, but the Blue Devils shot just 36 percent and went 6 for 27 from 3-point range -- with all the made 3s coming from Curry.

Singler, who shot just 3 for 17 in the first meeting, went 3 for 14 and missed all five 3-point tries while finishing with just eight points as Duke fell to the No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament.

"We're a confident team," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Just because you miss shots, it's not about confidence. Sometimes you miss shots. If you're not confident, you don't take the shots. Confidence is not our problem. We're OK."

Barnes was more aggressive than in the first meeting, leading an offense that shot 52 percent -- the highest Duke allowed in any league game this season. The freshman went just 3 for 8 and had nine points in the first game but went 7 for 17 to go with five rebounds in this one.

In addition, Marshall was in complete control of North Carolina's offense, repeatedly pushing ahead in transition to set up plenty of good looks or immediately answer back after a Duke score. Marshall had just two turnovers in 36 minutes, which allowed the Tar Heels to maintain a comfortable margin and keep the pressure on the cold-shooting Blue Devils.

"They don't stop attacking you," Singler said. "They're great in transition and if you don't get back on defense, they're going to hurt you, and that's what happened."

Now the Tar Heels will head to Greensboro with a record 28th ACC regular-season championship and seeking to continue their resurgence.

It didn't look like North Carolina -- which has won 17 of 19 games since losing to Texas on a last-second shot in December -- was a real challenger to the favored Blue Devils in the ACC race after looking lost in November losses to Minnesota, Vanderbilt and Illinois, and an ugly 20-point loss in January to lowly Georgia Tech.

But this group played defense well enough to keep its Hall of Fame coach happy all season and has been tough enough to win six games by three or fewer points.

They also overcame player defections and injuries that have left them with just eight scholarship players.

"From where we started at the beginning of the season, it just feels like daylight and darkness," Barnes said. "We came together as a group, overcome a lot of adversity -- people leaving, injury -- and just kept continuing to get closer as a unit and just came together."

Surprisingly, there was little drama against Duke.

The Tar Heels led by 12 points at halftime and never let the Blue Devils get closer than five while avoiding a repeat of that second-half collapse at Cameron. Instead, they spent the final minutes of this one with the sellout crowd at an ear-ringing celebratory roar while Duke managed just one field goal -- a runner from Smith with 5:13 left -- in the final 11 minutes.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

Virginia Tech enhances NCAA tournament chances with upset of No. 1 Duke

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- After three consecutive years of being on the NCAA tournament bubble and winding up disappointed in the NIT, Virginia Tech senior Malcolm Delaney hopes the Hokies made a pretty strong case for inclusion in the big tournament this year.

The Hokies used a late 15-4 run over a span of 4½ minutes to turn a six-point deficit into a five-point lead Saturday night and they held off top-ranked Duke 64-60, getting the badly needed signature victory that could boost their NCAA credentials significantly.

Fast Facts

• Jeff Allen scored 17 points to lead Virginia Tech, which picked up its fourth all-time win over AP No. 1 ranked teams.

• Virginia Tech has three wins against No. 1 teams in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll as an unranked team. Maryland and UCLA are the only other teams with that many wins.

• All five starters scored in double-figures for the Hokies, who won despite 8 of 19 free throw line shooting.

• Virginia Tech ended a four-game losing streak in the series.

• Duke's seven-game win streak came to an end. Duke entered the game having won five straight ACC road games.

-- ESPN Stats & Information

"A lot of teams, down six to Duke, would have just folded up and let Duke put the game away, but we didn't," Delaney said of turning a 53-47 deficit into a 62-57 lead. "We buckled up and got stops."

Terrell Bell scored 12 points, including five straight to give Virginia Tech the lead for good with 4:19 to play, and the Blue Devils' night-long shooting woes never relented.

"Our offense let us down tonight," Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

The Blue Devils shot under 40 percent and were 4 for 20 from 3-point range.

The Hokies (19-8, 9-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) got big shots from several players, but none more important than Bell. His 3-pointer from the right corner tied it with 4:40 left, and when he was fouled moments later, he said he needed the stoppage to collect himself.

"I definitely had to calm myself," he said. "It was a big moment for me. There was a lot going through my mind. I just had to take some deep breaths and knock down the free throws."

He made both, and when Jeff Allen was credited with a basket on goaltending with 2:39 left, the lead was four and it was time for Delaney, the Hokies' top player, to respond.

After Kyle Singler's basket, Delaney made his only 3-pointer of the night, swishing it in from the top of the key, building the lead back to five and giving the Hokies some room.

"We were up two. I had to hit that shot," Delaney said.

The Blue Devils (26-3, 12-2) had chances in the closing minute to pull even when Virginia Tech struggled at the free throw line, but couldn't capitalize. Duke had its seven-game winning streak snapped, and lost for the first time in the last five against the Hokies.

"It was like an NCAA game," Krzyzewski said. "It was that level."

Duke Awful From 3 In Losses

Duke is shooting 39.1 percent from 3-point range this season, but it has been extremely poor in that area in each of its three losses.

Duke's 3-pointers in losses

Date	Opponent	3-pt FG-A
Saturday	at Virginia Tech	4-20
Jan. 30	at St. John's	5-26
Jan. 12	at Florida State	11-35

powered by

Singler led Duke with 22 points but shot just 6 for 19, and Nolan Smithhad 18.

Allen led the Hokies with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Erick Green also scored 12 and Delaney had 11 as the Hokies improved to 4-7 in their history against teams ranked No. 1.

The Hokies trailed 51-45 until Delaney's driving basket with 9:28 left. It ignited the late burst, with the last seven coming in succession to give them a 57-55 lead.

After Delaney's 3-pointer, a layup by Mason Plumlee with 1:25 left and his free throw with 23.2 seconds left was all the Blue Devils could muster the rest of the way.

"I don't fault my guys," Krzyzewski said. They're playing well. They just couldn't put the ball in the basket during that sequence."

As the buzzer sounded, fans streamed onto the court.

The Hokies led 42-37 until Andre Dawkins's 3-pointer for Duke with 16:45 to go sparked a 14-3 burst for the Blue Devils. Singler had seven points in the run, and capped it with a 3-pointer that gave Duke a 51-45 advantage with 11:08 to play.

When Delaney made a layup, just his third field goal, with 9:28 left, it pulled Virginia Tech to 51-47 -- and ended a scoring drought of 4½ minutes for the home team.

But with Singler repeatedly missing open 3s for the Blue Devils -- he finished 1 for 7 from behind the 3-point line -- the Hokies failed to capitalize right away.Victor Davila missed a pair of free throws badly, and Delaney airballed a 3-pointer to groans.

But then the Hokies caught fire again, and everything changed.

The game also was the first appearance at Cassell Coliseum for Seth Curry, whose father, Dell, is the second-leading scorer in Hokies history. Seth Curry was recruited by the Hokies but wound up at Liberty and transferred to Duke after one season seeking a bigger challenge.

He was jeered in introductions, whistled for two quick fouls at the start of the game and again early in the second half and played little. He came in for the final sequence but threw the ball away when double teamed at the top of the key, capping a scoreless night.

The Hokies led 33-31 at halftime, and for most of the first half even though scoring leader Malcolm Delaney didn't scratch until he hit a layup just 4:39 before halftime.

Delaney managed only four shots in the half and was blanketed on defense by Smith, who hit 6 of 10 shots and led all scorers with 12 points. Green had 10 for the Hokies.

The Blue Devils led just twice in the half, the last at 18-16, but Green's 3-pointer from the right corner launched a 13-4 run that gave the Hokies a 29-22 advantage, their largest.

Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press